Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-01-09
HOW sCULPTORS WORK.
Facts Not Generally Known About statue
Making.

Making.
Several great sculptOrs, Michael Angelo
among them, have occasionally hewn their
statues straight out of a block of marble,
without going through the preliminary
courses of modelling in clay and casting in
plaster. But this is rarely done, for, in
the first place, the work would be too
long for an artist who has a regard for his
time, and, in the second, the hewing Of
the marble demands a special practical
experience which makes it an art
apart. A sculptor would probably spoil a
hundred blocks OF marble before making
as much as a statuette 4 foot high were he
to trust only to himself in the matter.
Even Michael Angelo, when he tried to
dispense with the ~''statuary" or ''practi-
TONER" succeeded only in making trag-
ments of figures. Not being IN adept in
Judging of the size of the block he needed,
he was constantly finding that he had mis-
calculated and that an arm, 4 leg or head
must remain unfinished in consequence.
The ''statuary," who is often an artist
of great merit and possessed of rs much
talent in his way as the sculptor in his,
sets the plaster model on n platform,
measures it and places it side by side with
a block of marble of the requisite height
and breadth. This done, he applies to the
model an instrument Of mathematical
precision, by which he obtains the detail
ed measure of every part and angle OF
the statue. He then returns to the mar
bic ard roughly sketches OF the out
side of it, by means of points, a sort of
outline of the figure or group. Upon each
of the spots where he has marked a point
with his pencil a workman bOres a hole
with an awl, taking great care, however,
not to bore a fraction of an inch deeper
than he is told. When the '~'Statuary"
has inspected all the sides Of the block,
and when the holes have all been bored
according TO his directions, the marble
looks as though it had been riddled by
bullets.
POINTS IN STATUE MAKING.
A second workman then appears with
q chisel and q hammer to hew away The
fragments of marble between the different
holes and along the pencil lines drawn as
guide marks. This work is more or less
easy us the attitude of the statue is simple
or tanciful. If the figure be one of a mod
ern parsonage standing placidly with his
arms by his sides, attired in the clothes Of
our day and with nothing eccentric in the
position of his legs, the task offers no diff
| culties and may be intruSted to q very or
binary workman. But if the subject be a
group on a figure in an attitude, for in
stance like that of Ajax Defying the Light
ming, the chisel annot be intruSted to any
but a practical hand, and every blow of
the hammer must be struck with the
greatest ~precautiOn'
The appearance presented by the marble
when the preparatory hewing has ended is
hat of some person or persons thlckly
wrapped up in shroud. The outlines OF
head and body can be vaguely detected
under the white covering but nothing.
more. Aud it is not until the ~''statuary''
himself has set to work with his finer
chiSel and more delicate hand that a tan
gible form begins to emerge from the hard
mass. First the head, then the shoulders
and trunk, then the legs, and
then the arms aud hands appear. The
arms and hands, if outStreched, are re-
served TO the last; if detached first from
the block the oscillations caused by the
chisel in hewing the other parts OF the
marble might shake and crack them. This
is a very necessary precautlOn, and 1t Is
even usual to keep the arms, the fingers
and other projecting parts of marble stat,
ues continually supported by props OF
wood until the moment when the work Is
set upon its pedestal and uncovered.
WORK By H SCULPTOR.
When the statue is handed over to the
sculptor so that he may give the hnai
touches to it there sometimes remains
scarcely anything for him to do. This is
the case when the "Statuary' is himself
a first class artist and can trust himself to
initiate t . a nicely the slightest details
of form and expression i'll the plaster
model. But such examples are rare, less
because Of the iDcaplGity OF the 'statu-
aries than bp reason of the natural desire
which every artist has to terminate in
person the work he has conceived and be-
gun.
The statue is usually returned to the
sculptor in 4 half finished state, the line
touches, which will constitute the special
beauty of the work, yet remaining to he
done. The most delicate of tools are then
employed; slender chiselS with the finest
points; toy hammers of scarcely any
weight, little graters that fit on, some
thing like thimbleS, to the top of the fore
finger. And to polish the marble and
smooth it chamois leather, sandpaper,
sponges stepped in oil and the palm of the
hand are used. When the work presents
a nude figure the amount of care needed
for the correct modelling of the limbs and
muscles is ~inconceivable. Works like the
LAGOON. the Dying Gladiator and the
Apollo Belvidere must have cost the maker
more trouble and anxiety than any sum OF
money could repay.-Eer FOX and Er-
press.